


.all over again

by AkaToMidori



Series: “Kiss me.” [4]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: AU, Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22117705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkaToMidori/pseuds/AkaToMidori
Summary: It hadn’t been easy for Sho to leave the town where he had grown up to move overseas, but it had been even more difficult to go back.
Relationships: Aiba Masaki/Sakurai Sho
Series: “Kiss me.” [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1587547
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38
Collections: Sakuraiba Tanabata 2019-2020





	.all over again

**Author's Note:**

> _Jan 04_   
> Prompt: “I think I’ve been holding myself from falling in love with you all over again.”

It hadn’t been easy for Sho to leave the town where he had grown up to move overseas, but it had been even more difficult to go back. 

Looking up at the old cherry tree gently swaying in the breeze, Sho couldn’t help but think about the last time he had stood under it. He could never forget the last moment he shared with Aiba, how salty their tears tasted as they kissed goodbye in that lonely night of March eleven years ago. Such a stark contrast with their first kiss, exchanged on a warm afternoon between shy smiles and loud laughs. 

Sho was seventeen when he kissed Aiba for the first time, and was only nineteen when he kissed him last. Now, at almost thirty, Aiba wasn’t the only person he’d ever kissed anymore, but he was still the only one he wanted to kiss forever. 

“Sho-kun?” 

Sho had been so absorbed in his memories, that he hadn’t even heard anyone come closer. His heart automatically skipped a beat when he heard that voice. He turned around to face Aiba, who was looking up at the tree just like he was a second ago. 

“Hey,” he said. 

Aiba’s smile was small when he replied, but Sho’s heart felt warm anyway. “Hey.” 

Sho shuffled his feet nervously. “I got your text.” 

Aiba nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

Sho shook his head. It had taken him almost an hour to get there, but he didn’t mind. As soon as he had seen Aiba’s message, in that empty chat that he had been trying to write into for almost a year, he had run to his car and had driven as fast as he could to reach that place. Even after all these years, even if they had spent most of their adult life apart, whenever Aiba called, Sho would follow. 

For a while, they stood there, letting silence embrace them, just enjoying each other’s presence after a long time of not seeing one another. As the seconds ticked away, Sho noticed that Aiba was holding something in his hand. When Aiba realized what he was looking at, he stiffened for a moment, and then held out his arm so that Sho could take whatever it was that he was holding. 

Sho’s fingers brushed on Aiba’s, desperately trying to prolong the contact as much as possible. As Aiba’s fingers slipped away, Sho realized that he was now holding a pile of letters. During the first year they were apart, Sho had written a letter to Aiba every day, telling him about his life, and how much he missed him. Since Aiba never replied, Sho had vowed in his last letter not to write to him anymore, so that they could both forget about each other. And perhaps now Aiba was cutting all ties with him by giving back all the love letters he wrote to him. 

However, where he expected to see Aiba’s name on the first envelope, he actually found his, written in Aiba’s small and messy calligraphy. His fingers trembled as he untied the ribbon that was keeping them together and let it fall to the ground. 

Yes, – he realized as he looked quickly through every envelope, – every single letter was addressed to him. He looked up at Aiba with confusion on his face. 

“When you left,” Aiba started, “I promised myself that I would stop loving you. But then your letters came, and it made things unbearable for me.” Aiba closed his eyes in pain. “I wrote a reply to every single one, but I never mailed them, in the hope that one day it would all stop. So when your last letter came, I locked them all in a drawer, and threw away the key.” 

Sho nodded. So this _was_ goodbye after all.

“I started dating other people, and I was even happy for a while,” Aiba continued. “But then last year you came back… I was so surprised when Jun-kun introduced you as his _senpai_.”

“I didn’t know I was going to meet you that night,” Sho said, glancing down. “Matsumoto-kun was so excited for me to meet his friends, and he wouldn’t stop talking about a _‘special someone’_ who was going to be there too. I didn’t know he meant you.” He looked back up at Aiba. “Though I can understand the sentiment.”

Feeling Sho’s gaze on him, Aiba bit on his lower lip nervously.

“I never told Matsumoto-kun about us,” Sho added, quickly. “I didn’t know if you wanted him to know. He…” he forced a smile. “I’m sure he will make you happy.”

“Jun-kun?” Aiba shook his head. “You don’t understand.” 

“What?”

Aiba took a deep breath. “I’m not with him.”

“Oh. I thought…”

“I know that he’s liked me for a while,” Aiba continued. “And I guess I liked him a bit. We probably would have gotten together too, but then _you_ came back. And as we were sitting in that restaurant, seeing you smile…” he trailed off.

“What are you trying to say?” 

“When you moved away to follow your dreams, you hurt me so much.” Hearing the pain in Aiba’s voice was hurting Sho so much right now. “So since you came back, I’ve been keeping my distance because I… I think I’ve been holding myself from falling in love with you all over again,” Aiba whispered in a quick jumble of words. 

Sho’s heart skipped a beat at those words. “I never stopped loving you, Masaki.” 

And there it was. After so long, Aiba’s brightest smile appeared on his face again. 

“Sho-chan?” 

Sho didn’t fail to notice the affectionate honorific with which Aiba used to call him when they were younger. “Yes?” he breathed out, a smudge of hope tinging his voice.

The pale moonlight was shining on Aiba’s silky hair, and Sho’s fingers twitched with want at the thought of being able to touch it if only he just moved a step closer. In the silence of the night, the only thing he could hear was their breathing, and his heartbeats counted each second until Aiba spoke again. 

“Kiss me.”


End file.
